Display device and method for controlling display device
A display device and a method for controlling the display device are provided herein. The display device has a light emitting module, a modulating module, and a control circuit. The light emitting module has a plurality of light emitting units. The modulating module is disposed on the light emitting module and has a modulating material layer. The control circuit is electrically connected to the modulating module and configured to switch the display device between a display mode and a projection mode.
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The present disclosure is related to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device having a display mode and a projection mode.
2. Description of the Prior ArtWith the flourishing development of the display devices, consumers have high expectations regarding the quality, functionality, or price of such products. However, some difficulties may be encountered through the use of display devices. Accordingly, a display device that improves the quality is needed.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSUREOne embodiment of the present disclosure discloses a method for controlling a display device. The method comprises receiving a switch signal; and switching the display device between a display mode and a projection mode according to the switch signal. A transmitting direction of a light in the projection mode is different from a transmitting direction of the light in the display mode.
Another embodiment of the present disclosure discloses a display device. The display device comprises a light emitting module, a modulating module, and a control circuit. The light emitting module comprises a plurality of light emitting units. The modulating module is disposed on the light emitting module and comprises a modulating material layer. The control circuit is electrically connected to the modulating module and configured to switch the display device between a display mode and a projection mode.
These and other objectives of the present disclosure will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
In the document, the terms “about” and “substantially” typically mean±20% of the stated value, ±10% of the stated value, ±5% of the stated value, ±3% of the stated value, ±2% of the stated value, ±1% of the stated value, or ±0.5% of the stated value. The stated value of the present disclosure is an approximate value. When there is no specific description, the stated value includes the meaning of “about” or “substantially”. Moreover, when considering the deviation or the fluctuation of the manufacturing process, the term “same” may also include the meaning of “about” or “substantially”. The material of the layers, thickness of the layers, profile of the layers, structure of a thin-film transistor (TFT), circuit layout and so forth are only for example, and sizes or dimensions or ranges are only for illustrated, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The expressions such as “a first material layer disposed above/on/over a second material layer”, may indicate the direct contact of the first material layer and the second material layer, or it may indicate a non-contact state with one or more intermediate layers between the first material layer and the second material layer. In the above situation, the first material layer may not be in direct contact with the second material layer.
The light emitting units 22 may include liquid crystals (LC), organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), inorganic light-emitting diodes (LED), mini light-emitting diodes (mini LED), micro light-emitting diodes (micro LED), quantum dots (QD), quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDorQDLED), phosphors, fluorescence, other materials, or a combination thereof, and are not limited thereto. The light emitting units 22 may be driven by the control circuit 80, and the control circuit 80 may comprise active components (such as thin-film transistors (TFTs) or an integrated circuit (IC)), passive components or a combination thereof. In addition, the material of a semiconductor layer of the thin-film transistors may comprise amorphous silicon, polysilicon such as low-temp polysilicon (LTPS) or oxide semiconductor such as indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO). However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
The control circuit 80 may switch an operation mode of the display device 10 according to a switch signal Sw, and the display device 10 may operate in a display mode or in a projection mode. Please refer to
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the transmitting direction of the light 26 having passed through the modulating module 30 may be adjusted by adjusting a distance between the light emitting module 20 and the lenses 42.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a modulating material layer may be disposed in the modulating module 30, and the transmitting direction of the light 26 emitted from the modulating module 30 may be adjusted by adjusting the refractive index of the modulating material layer. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the material of the modulating material layer may include liquid crystal. The lenses 42 of the lens module 40 may include liquid crystal (LC) lenses.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, at least one of the first electrodes 44 may comprise first sub-electrodes 441 to 443, and the second electrode 46 may be a plane conductive layer and used as a common electrode applied with a common voltage (e.g., a ground voltage), but not limited thereto. The sub-electrodes 441, 442 and 443 may be applied with different voltages V1, V2 and V3, which are different from the common voltage applied to the second electrode 46. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the voltage V1 is less than the voltages V2 and V3, and the voltage V2 is less than the voltage V3. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the applied voltages V1, V2 and V3 may be adjusted based on the design of the lens module 40A. In the embodiment, at least one of the first electrodes 44 may be corresponding to a light emitting unit 22. In another embodiment, at least one of the first electrodes 44 may be corresponding to a set of light emitting units 22 and is configured to redirect the light 24 emitted from the set of light emitting units 22. A number of the light emitting units 22 of the set may be greater than 1, such as 2, 3, 4, or 6. In the embodiment, the first electrode 44, the second electrode 46 and the modulating material layer 55 disposed between first electrode 44 and the second electrode 46 may operate together to be one of the lenses 42 of the modulating module 30 as shown in
In summary, the method for controlling the display can switch the display device between the display mode and the projection mode by adjusting a distance between the light emitting module and the lenses or by adjusting the refractive index of a modulating layer disposed in the modulating module. In the display mode, the display device may display images. In the projection mode, the display device may be used as a projector or a lighting device.
Although some embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. For example, it will be readily understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that many of the features, functions, processes, and materials described herein may be varied while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the present disclosure, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed, that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present disclosure. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps. Moreover, each of the claims constitutes an individual embodiment, and the scope of the disclosure also includes the scope of the various claims and combinations of the embodiments. The scope of the disclosure is subject to the definition of the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A method for controlling a display device, the display device comprising:
- a light emitting module comprising a plurality of light emitting units; and
- a plurality of lenses disposed on the light emitting module;
- the method comprising:
- receiving a switch signal; and
- switching the display device between a display mode and a projection mode by adjusting a distance between the light emitting module and the plurality of lenses according to the switch signal;
- wherein a transmitting direction of a light in the projection mode is different from a transmitting direction of the light in the display mode.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of lenses comprise:
- a plurality of first electrodes;
- a second electrode; and
- a modulating layer disposed between the plurality of first electrodes and the second electrode.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of lenses is corresponding to a corresponding light emitting unit and is configured to redirect light emitted from the corresponding light emitting unit.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of lenses is corresponding to a set of light emitting units and is configured to redirect light emitted from the set of light emitting units.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the display device further comprises a plurality of spacing components disposed between the light emitting module and the plurality of lenses, and at least one of the plurality of spacing components is disposed between two adjacent ones of the plurality of light emitting units.
6. A method for controlling a display device, the display device comprising:
- a light emitting module comprising a plurality of light emitting units for emitting light; and
- a modulating module, disposed on the light emitting module and for redirecting the light, the modulating module comprising a modulating material layer;
- the method comprising:
- receiving a switch signal; and
- switching the display device between a display mode and a projection mode by adjusting a refractive index of the modulating material layer according to the switch signal;
- wherein a transmitting direction of a light in the projection mode is different from a transmitting direction of the light in the display mode.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the modulating module further comprises a plurality of lenses disposed on the modulating material layer.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the modulating module comprises a lens module comprising a first electrode and a second electrode, the modulating material layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, and the refractive index of the modulating material layer is adjusted by adjusting a voltage difference between the first electrode and the second electrode.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein the modulating material layer is disposed between the light emitting module and a plurality of lenses, the refractive index of the modulating material layer is adjusted by adjusting a voltage difference between a first electrode and a second electrode of the display device, a first substrate is disposed between the light emitting module and the modulating material layer, and a second substrate is disposed between the modulating material layer and the plurality of lenses.
10. The method of claim 6, wherein the modulating material layer is a liquid crystal layer.
11. A display device, comprising:
- a light emitting module, comprising a plurality of light emitting units for emitting light;
- a modulating module, disposed on the light emitting module and for redirecting the light, the modulating module comprising a modulating material layer; and
- a control circuit, electrically connected to the modulating module and configured to switch the display device between a display mode and a projection mode by adjusting a refractive index of the modulating material layer according to the switch signal.
12. The display device of claim 11, wherein a transmitting direction of a light in the projection mode is different from a transmitting direction of the light in the display mode.
13. The display device of claim 11, wherein the modulating module further comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, the modulating material layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, and the control circuit adjusts a voltage difference between the first electrode and the second electrode to adjust the refractive index of the modulating material layer.
14. The display device of claim 11, wherein the modulating module further comprises the plurality of lenses disposed on the modulating material layer.
15. The display device of claim 14, wherein the modulating module further comprises a lens module, the lens module comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, and the modulating material layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.
16. The display device of claim 14, wherein at least one of the plurality of lenses is corresponding to a corresponding light emitting unit and is configured to redirect light emitted from the corresponding light emitting unit.
17. The display device of claim 14, wherein at least one of the plurality of lenses is corresponding to a set of light emitting units and is configured to redirect light emitted from the set of light emitting units.
18. The display device of claim 11, wherein the modulating material layer is a liquid crystal layer.
19. The display device of claim 11, wherein the modulating module further comprises a plurality of spacing components disposed between the light emitting module and the modulating module, and at least one of the plurality of spacing components is disposed between two adjacent ones of the plurality of light emitting units.
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Type: Grant
Filed: May 15, 2019
Date of Patent: Jul 27, 2021
Patent Publication Number: 20200363679
Assignee: InnoLux Corporation (Miao-Li County)
Inventor: Minoru Shibazaki (Miao-Li County)
Primary Examiner: Michelle M Iacoletti
Assistant Examiner: Magda Cruz
Application Number: 16/412,428
International Classification: H04N 9/31 (20060101); G02F 1/1335 (20060101); G02F 1/1343 (20060101);